1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toys and in general to stuffed animals such as teddy bears, and specifically to a toy stuffed animal having a first appearance or configuration that speaks when certain portions of the stuffed animal""s body is pressed and that can also be convertible into a stuffed animal having a second appearance or configuration that also speaks but whose speech now corresponds to the second configuration. The stuffed animal includes a second head portion which is exchanged for the original head, and may also include reversible paws or feet, and a reversible flap which, upon the transformation of the stuffed animal to its second configuration, can be reversed to turn into a coat, diaper, or other garment, to represent the second configuration. The second configuration of the stuffed animal may be for particular festive occasions such as holidays, although it is not limited to holidays and can be converted into virtually any configuration.
2. Description of Related Art
This invention relates to a toy such as a teddy bear that an be converted or altered into different configurations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,938 issued to Reynolds, Feb. 25, 1992, shows a toy or other object alterable between two different shapes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,171 issued to Horimoto, Oct. 15, 1985, shows a stuffed toy that includes an illumination device for illuminating portions of the toy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,932 issued to Zimbarg, Oct. 17, 1995, shows a Santa Claus-like decorative object that includes a combination of a flexible bag member and has a Santa Claus shape.
Although there are a variety of toys that provide some transition, it is important to have a toy that can be converted into a different appearance or configuration and which has the capability of playing different, distinct audio messages for each configuration.
The present invention provides a stuffed animal such as a teddy bear that includes an electrical contact switch and that upon touching the teddy bear, an audio message will be activated simulating the awakening of the teddy bear. The teddy bear includes several convertible features, one of which is the head of the teddy bear, which upon rotation, converts to a second head and face. The second head and face is hidden within a recess of the original teddy bear head. Other convertible features include bear""s paws or other parts of the body that allows the child to substitute the teddy bear face, paws, and other features, with a second face, or a second set of paws or feet to complete the transformation into a second configuration corresponding to another holiday personage such as a teddy bear with a Santa Claus, beard, and red coat, so that in the alternate mode of operation, the teddy bear can also provide a Santa Claus or other festive holiday figure.
A toy stuffed animal that includes a plurality of two-positionable body parts and elements that can have a first position corresponding to a teddy bear configuration and a second position corresponding to a second configuration, different from the first configuration.
Upon movement of the bear""s arms or upon pressure applied to a pre-determined location on the bear""s body, a plurality of switches are activated. The switches could be an impact switch, or could be based on merely the touching of the fingers to certain areas of the body, which itself forms the contact for activating an electrical circuit. When the circuit is activated, an audio message will play for a predetermined length of time. The audio message corresponds to the initial configuration of the stuffed animal, for example, a teddy bear.
The stuffed body includes a second and face configuration that is mounted reversibly within a recess behind the stuffed animal""s head, the second head and face representing a festive holiday figure, such as a Santa Claus face with a Santa Claus hat and beard.
The stuffed animal may also include other reversible features, such as reversible paws, feet, or other body features like a tail. Each reversible body feature has a second corresponding body feature hidden within a recess underneath the first body feature. Once all of the hidden body features have been reversed, a complete transformation has taken place and a second, new stuffed animal representation appears wherein all of the reversed body features correspond with the second head configuration.
In one example, the stuffed animal would be a teddy bear, and the alternate or convertible figure face would be a teddy bear head with a Santa Claus hat and perhaps a Santa Claus beard to give it the appearance of Santa Claus.
The teddy bear capable of being converted to a Santa Claus configuration comprising a body having a plurality of arms and legs stuffed with a polyester fiberfill or equivalent material to provide a configuration of an animal having a first appearance, such as a teddy bear, a first head portion representing the appearance of a teddy bear, two arms, two legs, two feet, and two paws.
A second head portion having a second appearance distinct from the first appearance is mounted within a first recess situated proximate the rear of the original teddy bear head and is moveable from a first position within the recess to a second position outside of the original teddy bear head while, at the same time, the original teddy bear head is moved within a second recess formed underneath the second head portion whereby the resultant alternative configured toy has a second appearance, such as a Santa Claus configuration, distinct from said first appearance.
Mounted within the teddy bear are means for activating an audio message signifying the awakening of the teddy bear wherein the means can be an activation switch located within the teddy bear proximate the mid-section of the teddy bear wherein upon the lifting of the teddy bear, the switch activates the awakening message to be played through a speaker located within the body of the teddy bear toy.
Also mounted within the teddy bear is a conversion switch which activates a second audio message corresponding to the Santa Claus appearance wherein the conversion switch is located within the teddy bear proximate the neck of the teddy bear whereupon the forward rotation of the teddy bear head and conversion from the teddy bear configuration to the Santa Claus configuration and appearance of the Santa Claus head activates the second audio message corresponding to the second appearance.
The conversion switch mounted within said teddy bear also activates a first audio message corresponding to the teddy bear""s first appearance whereupon the backward rotation of the Santa Claus head and conversion from the Santa Claus configuration back to the teddy bear configuration, the conversion switch activates the first audio message corresponding to said first appearance.
In an alternate embodiment, the conversion switch activates a third, xe2x80x9cfail-safexe2x80x9d audio message upon the forward rotation of the teddy bear head prior to the awakening of the teddy bear. The third audio message notifies the user that the teddy bear must first be xe2x80x9cawakenedxe2x80x9d prior to the transforming of the teddy bear configuration into the Santa Claus configuration.
Finally, a reversible flap is situated proximate the mid-section of the teddy bear body, and affixed at the back of the teddy bear via standard hook and loop fastening means such as VELCRO(copyright). The flap can be reversed and fastened around the front mid-section portion of the body to represent, for example, a red Santa Claus coat. Additionally, the bear""s paws also contain material capable of being reversed to reveal previously-hidden material corresponding to the Santa Claus coat and head.
The original teddy bear head can be pushed inside a second recess created when the second or alternative Santa Claus face is rotated in place thereby displacing the original teddy bear face and head.
Thus, to utilize and play with the toy, a child seeing the teddy bear lying in a sleeping mode, physically applies contact to or pick-ups the teddy bear, at which time, the teddy bear will respond as if it is being awakened by emitting an audio message and sounds. The child can then manually rotate the head of the teddy bear, forward, which displaces the original teddy bear head and face, and converts the teddy bear into a second face having the appearance of a Santa Claus-like teddy bear for the Christmas season. The original teddy bear""s head is now completely hidden as it resides within a recess underneath the Santa Claus-like head. The child can then continue the transformation by reversing different body parts such as the bear""s paws, feet, and reversing the flap behind the bear to reveal a red Santa Claus coat. As the head portion of the teddy bear is being converted to a second configuration, a second, audio message will play, corresponding to the second configuration of the stuffed animal.
A third audio message will play if the user first flips the teddy bear""s head forward to reveal the second head configuration, without first xe2x80x9cawakeningxe2x80x9d the bear by pressing its body. This message will remind the user to first xe2x80x9cawakenxe2x80x9d the bear, and then transform it by reversing its head and other body parts.
Other holiday characters could be emulated by the secondary figuration such as the Easter bunny at Easter, a New Year""s Baby, or appropriate Thanksgiving characters for Thanksgiving holidays. For example, the New Year""s baby may include similar reversible flaps, as in the Santa Claus bear, but instead, upon reversal of the flaps, a diaper is formed around the bear""s bottom portion. Although holiday characters are typically represented, any figures or characters may be represented.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved convertible toy stuffed animal.
It is still another object of this invention is to provide an improved stuffed animal that can have two configurations or appearances representing two distinct characters having different appearances wherein a child can manually transform the animal from a first to a second configuration by reversing several individual body parts.
It is still yet another object of this invention to provide a convertible stuffed animal or toy that can play an audio message unique to an initial configuration and appearance and a second, distinct audio message unique to the second, converted configuration and appearance wherein the second audio message is played upon the conversion from the initial configuration to the second, converted configuration.